Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving was a success. There were some food-related mishaps -- the green beans from my garden weren't very good, I had blanched and frozen them, but they were all limp and waterlogged when I tried to cook them; plus, I made the mashed potatoes too early and they got dried out in the oven. But the turkey (cooked by my coworker's husband) was divine, and there were three kinds of stuffing, and homemade cranberry sauce, so that was all good. The ten-year-old boy turned out to be a Lego-maniac, so CJ let him go through this big box of Legos he has for his new office. He kept rustling through it, finding some piece of plastic and yelling 'oh! This is really rare!" And I'd say, all smug in my knowledge, "is that a grappling hook from a snow speeder?" and he'd say "yes, but this is an OLD one! They don't make them like this anymore!" It was kind of mindblowing. I hadn't thought that Legos evolve, and that retired pieces would have value, but apparently they do. It's just another one of those eBay-fueled childhood-completion manias that for some reason I never thought of before.

I spent yesterday being cat-like. I didn't leave the house except for a walk to the bird blind (where I fed some chickadees from my hand) and back, and though I slept in, I ended up back in bed in the afternoon. Warm, cozy bed, with my big plush cat sleeping in it. I curled up around her and played with my iPhone until my eyes got too swimmy and I gave in and napped. Later, B and I finally played the board game version of Halo I got from work. He beat me, but I didn't know what I was doing until halfway through, so now I am itching for a rematch. In sum: Slept too much and frequently, played with birds outside, played inside, ate, and lazed around. It was just fine with me.

I'm feeling less nauseated now. Whew. I felt gross after brunch today, but that is because the Haymarket seems to like their breakfast foods to consist of at least %75 butter, and then, just as an underscore, they put big blobs of butter on top of them. I ordered the "buttermilk pancakes with fruit, almond butter, and maple syrup" but when it came there was only a little fruit, and though I was expecting almond butter (which is peanut butter made with almonds) I think I got butter whipped with almond extract. It was totally delicious, of course, but I felt not so great after. But I have recovered. I think.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I did get out of work early, and I did make it to the Food Bank Farm. They're down an extremely muddy, rutted road, and the "store" is an unheated garage-type space. But it had good produce and other items, cheap. I got organic potatoes, carrots, and a butternut squash, all grown locally, plus some nice olives. I almost bought some egg nog (from Mapeline Farm) but it was $4.50 and had no list of ingredients. I'm not paying that much for nog if there's a chance it has the same crap the Stop and Shop brands do. Anyway, it looks like my sauteed green beans (from my garden, frozen), carrot sticks, mashed potatoes, and mashed squash will all be local. I bought celery at Trader Joe's because the Food Bank didn't have any; but I walked across the mall parking lot to get it, instead of driving, so that's something, right? Give me a frickin' medal.

I drove on to Target etc. In JoAnn's, a 50-something man was whistling, at full volume, "Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride." I had to pinch myself to keep from saying something to him. "Listen, I know it sucks that you have that song stuck in your head. But do you have to share your affliction with the world? HAVE YOU NO DECENCY, SIR??"

Now I'm home and taking a break from sorting through clutter and doing tiny cleaning tasks that should have been done weeks ago but that I am only now getting to because I have guests coming tomorrow. That is the way things are done around here. I feel better today, mentally at least. Still some queasiness here and there. Chewing gum or ginger candy helps. I can only imagine how badly I'd be feeling if I was preggers. Ugh...

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Hey, look at me, I skipped another day of posting! huh. Time for another list of randomness.

During my therapy appointment last night, a big parade of marchers came through town. I was on the third floor and couldn't see them, but I could hear them yelling, "No justice, no peace!" and "What do we want? Blergabedoobit! [something with two many syllables that I couldn't make out] When do we want it? NOW!" If I had been in a more fun situation I would have gone over to the window to check them out and maybe make fun of their garbled chants. But I wasn't, so I didn't.

The building my office window faces is usually topped with a full row of pigeons, of which there are exactly two all-white ones. All-white pigeon = dove.

I have not been feeling so great physically or mentally and I'm having a hard time pinning down the reason. I'd blame it on The Pill, but I just started it Sunday (no barfing yet, but some queasy feelings). The only things I can pin it on is the recent cyst reappearance, the weather getting colder, annual holiday-related anxiety, an upcoming trip to CJ's parents' place for a week, and restarting therapy. (Therapy usually makes one feel worse before you feel better, right? Please?)

The bad feelings might also be attributed to watching too much Celebrity Rehab and The Real Housewives of wherever and other similarly empty-calorie shows. I need to stock up on some quality DVD rentals for my free time this weekend.

I am excited to get out of work early tomorrow and shop at the Food Bank Farm, a CSA that opens to the public on the Tuesday and Weds. before Thanksgiving. I'm going to try to buy everything I need for my Thanksgiving side dishes there.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Drive home was uneventful, I did it without stopping, I only flipped the bird at another driver once. I miss my cutie niece and nephew. I keep on remembering my nephew, who is not yet two, counting from one to ten with me. "un? doo? fee? door? die? see? deben? ay? ayn? ehn." I already asked his parents to take a video, but I do not think this has happened.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

I didn't blog yesterday. I worked and then I drove to NJ, and then I couldn't get a signal in the room I'm sleeping in. So there. I had wanted to say that there's a new sign on the Tappan Zee Bridge that says something like "Life is worth living!" to stop bridge jumpers, I guess, which was strange and sad to see, just posted up there right after the "Next exit 2 miles" sign and right before the "road work ahead" sign. But I couldn't post it. Now I'm in a better room for the wifi.

I did this "Tyapealyzer" on my blog, and here's the result:ESFP - The Performers[ESFP]"The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions."

I really don't think I'm a "performer." But I do like pleasure and beauty (crazy, right?). I do like to plan ahead, but I hate making decisions, so that means the plans end up being a bit vague. And the work thing is probably correct. The thing is, I only write about certain parts of my life here. I don't usually write about politics, or anything too nerdy...

Anyway, I'm at my parents' house for a pre-Thanksgiving, parents' birthdays celebration. When I got there last night I was told that one of their two odd and tiny Abyssinians, Misty, had escaped and had been missing for two weeks, but that we were not to bring it up with my niece. They have four cats and they occasionally jump over the dogs as they're being let out for a pee, but they come back in an hour or two. Anyway, this morning around 11 we were in the kitchen and we saw the missing cat outside! She came right to the door, we let her in, and she ran to the food and started gobbling it up. She is VERY skinny. Like, Animal Cops skinny. Poor little kitty! Poor and kind of dumb. These cats have tiny brains. We have no idea where she was or what she spent the last two weeks doing, except she's clearly not a great hunter, though she must have found water.

The other event of note that happened today is our trip to Costco, at which I got a big bag of nuts, a big bag of clementines, a big box of cereal, and a big box of granola bars. I love a Costco. Also, the kids are ridiculously cute, but nothing new there. They're great.

Friday, November 21, 2008

We kicked so much ass at trivia, getting 26.5 points (out of 30), but then it turned out everyone else did too, and we didn't even end up placing in the top 3. Sad.

I'm in the middle of a malaise of which I can't find the cause. I almost didn't go out at all tonight, wanting instead to curl up on the couch and watch TV (again). But I did, and I feel much better now. I am looking forward to going to sleep. I'm supposed to start taking The Pill soon, but I'm nervous about it. I already feel bloaty and nauseated, and I am worried about getting morning sickness again and gaining weight and all the other bad stuff that happens when you take it. I am trying to focus on the fact that it's probably a weaker drug than when I took it oh, 15 years ago or so. Also melancholy-ish: stressful hard stuff at work. Today I got the equivalent of a check-minus and a "see me after class" on something I had given to my top editor to approve. Thing is, I knew what I handed in wasn't perfect, but fixing it was making my brain hurt. My head just shuts down after a certain number of hours. Plus there were fractions involved. No good.

I'm planning on driving to Jersey tomorrow after work, but it's almost 12:30 at night and I haven't packed a single thing, I'm already in need of more sleep than I've been getting and I won't get it tonight, so I'll have to come home and pack after work, and since I'll be home I'll have to feed the cats and give Junebug her two pills and maybe a shot.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

I was so tired after work and dinner that I almost fell asleep lying on the hard floor in front of my (gas) fireplace. Then I managed to make it upstairs to the sofa in front of the TV, where my ifauxn (is that a stretch? it's a disconnected iphone) sits in a charger within arm's reach. And then I was going to write this blog entry with my iphone, so it would be all hi i am typing like a 16 year old who cant be bothered with capital letters or punctuation p s noone understands me i luv twilight ttfn.

But then I got up and got my cereal and here I am in front of the laptop. Tonight my goal is Bedtime by Midnight. It's good to have realistic goals, I say.

Winter has begun, I guess, because suddenly it is freezing cold outside, and I saw a few flakes of snow blow down yesterday. I'm already feeling both antsy and bored. Kandy is also having some after-work motivation problems so we might start a support network. She has a busier social life than I do, though, so she's less bored than I am (but equally unmotivated to be productive).

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Hey, lookit me! I finally did something and started up a shop on etsy. Right now there is, um, just one item up there. But I put up a temporary-ish banner and filled out all of the other info, so I should be good to go, once I'm at home during daylight hours and can take better photos... Which might not be until Thanksgiving. (Mornings are off-limits; I can barely get my ass out of bed, showered, dressed and out the door before 9:30 as it is.)

Also, it looks like the two 2 GB Kingston SD cards I bought for way cheap do work. I bought them in prep of going to Belize without my laptop (and without the ability to dump all of the images off my camera every night).

Monday, November 17, 2008

Today I was videotaped -- or at least my arms and hands were -- in a quiet, private room in the basement of my office. I was demonstrating how to make a tricky craft. I made one from start to finish once on Friday and once today, so I had to bring the same clothes I wore Friday. Plus, I was supposed to say what I was doing, but the guy (just a co-worker) taping me was so casual about it, I wasn't really sure if he would use what I was saying or not -- maybe one-fourth of what I was saying was useable, mainly because I was talking to the camera guy the other times, or mumbling to myself about the mistakes I was making, or laughing nervously... Ugh. Anyway, he's going to edit it together somehow. I kept offering to do a voice-over after he was done, but he kept telling me I did fine. Well, it might be fine for him, but I have HIGH STANDARDS.

Today I went to the gym with CJ, which cost $12 for 45 minutes speed-walking on a treadmill and a shower afterwards. I've been wanting to try it out because I know I need to be more fit, and finally I resigned myself to go. The working-out part was fine; the treadmill had its own television screen, so I switched between America's Next Top Model and Man vs. Wild, and the machine had a heart rate monitor so I could see I wasn't pushing myself too much. But after I was done, I stepped off of the machine and almost fell over. It made me super woozy and dizzy. I am guessing it was a combo of watching a stationary TV while walking in place (moving my head up and down), because I have worked out on a treadmill before (not for as long as 45 minutes though) and never had this motion-sick feeling. Next time I'll turn off the TV and listen to a podcast or something. Or I might try working out with Maya again, though I'm going to have to pretend I'm a new user (which will require giving myself a new name) since it's been so long and I couldn't take the scolding.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

I kind of love Beyonce. She does what she does extremely well, and she seems to be really smart, show-business-wise. Tonight's Saturday Night Live reminded me of it. The real video for that 'single ladies' song is incredibly impressive. One of the blogs I follow recently posted the video and the inspiration for the dance moves below it.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

The benefit show last night was amazing. Fantastic music, lots of groovy people, just a really nice atmosphere, though a little conflicted -- bands kept playing these great covers of songs Melissa had really liked, and it was all music I liked too (REM, Flaming Lips, The Police), which made me sad I never had the chance to get to know her. I helped out with selling raffle tickets at the door, and people bought a lot of tickets, so we were very busy. I could only partially watch the Rub Wrongways Supergroup's set, which is too bad, though I did walk away from my post a little bit to shake my booty to Dancin' Queen. I helped L with the silent auction, too; I ended up with a sleep mask and a framed pencil outline of a horse with the words "FORTITUDE signifying STRENGTH COURAGE and ENDURANCE" because it spoke to me. My necklace and earrings went for $15 and $20, I think, and the doll went for $25, after 2 bids. The first bidder on the doll was very disappointed she had lost, and with her and L's encouragement I agreed to make her a version of the doll for $30. I am assuming it will take me a shorter amount of time this go-round. The show was in the Center for the Arts, so there was no legal way to sell booze, but people could BYOB. One of the side rooms was the designated cooler and six-pack area. I hadn't brought anything because I had felt kinda woozy after work, but then after I was at the show for a couple of hours I felt better, and suddenly there were a million open bottles of red wine everywhere pouring into the plastic dixie cup I had borrowed. It was nice. I think we made a lot of money for Mark to do whatever he wishes to do with it (slightly better than average preschool for the girls?) and the lineup waqs fantastic. Even the crazy drunken Skexsis who demanded her money back at the end of the show didn't put a dent in the evening (though I obsessively thought of comebacks and insults for her on the drive home).

Friday, November 14, 2008

I had my lady business looked at ultra-sonically this morning, and guess what! I have a cyst of the same size and on the same side as I had before my surgery. (You know, the cyst that made me opt to get surgery in the first place.) The gyno kind of semi-apologetically explained that because of all of the scar tissue it was hard to get in there and get all of the endo out, or to cut off the blood supply completely, or something -- whatever it was, it was too hard for her to do, and she didn't want to just take the whole ovary out. This time I'm going to try to tough it out as much as possible because that surgery sucked HARD.

I also got some birth control pills called "Loestrin" which is supposedly the lowest hormonal dose you can get. My gyno said that it's the kind her daughter uses. We'll see how it goes (in a few weeks).

Can I just say that when you're infertile, the gynocologist's office is the last place you want to be. I can't imagine how I'd hold it together if I were actually trying to conceive, or god forbid, miscarried. There's photos of babies and happy mothers everywhere, posters for breastfeeding classes and new mother workshops, etc. I'm not even sure I want to carry a baby and I was feeling bitter and resentful.

Thank god I'm an identical twin who already made a couple of kids who are carrying my genetic material. Sure, it's all mixed up with that of my swarthy, asthmatic brother-in-law (I kid because I love) but it's obviously in there somewhere. Now I can feel less weird about buying a baby from some other country or whatnot. And if I do, you'd better believe I'd be all, "Hey look at this baby! I bought him in Ecuador," or, "This little cutie only cost us $15k! Good deal, right?" Because cynicism's the only way I can deal with the unfairness of getting pregnant easily = free, and being infertile but wanting kids = many, many thousands of dollars.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Wow, I just have nothing to say here. Uh, the piece of fried chicken I got from the hot bar at the co-opseemed undercooked. My friend Kandy donated a piece of art to auction off at the big show tomorrow, even though she doesn't know the people affected and can't make the show. We are working on a plan of having Thanksgiving here, though I refuse to try a turkey (I am just not ready). My lady parts appointment is tomorrow morning at 8:15, which is too early. I have no idea what to get my dad for his birthday, as usual. It's my mom's birthday tomorrow but I already have something cool for her. CJ is away tonight and during our phone call the signal kept dropping out -- note, there is nothing more annoying than saying "I can't hear you, you're breaking up," except for saying it. Bill O'Reilly is on the Daily and it's time to hit the hay.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Hey, thanks for your comments, ladies. I am feeling a bit better today. I am going to try going on the pill, which I haven't taken since college. It made me very, very emotional, so it will be ... interesting to try it again. It also made me barf whenever I had to wake up in the early morning, including one memorable time around 5:30 a.m. when I was driving my boyfriend to work. I had to pull over on a busy road and open my door to puke into the street as my boyfriend sat next to me. (Later he said, "It was so sudden! You were puketry in motion!") So there's that to look forward to. But hey, it also works as birth control, so I hear! That is a benefit.

I think I'm finished with the item I will be silent-auctioning off this Friday for the Melissa Mulcahy benefit (which you should all attend, as it is going to be amazing). It was supposed to be an "art doll" but instead it just looks like a, um, regular doll. Creepy scan of it here:

I hand-sewed it without a pattern, so it's all wack, and of course it took me many hours, but it really doesn't look worth more than $20 or so. Which is what I'll make my "suggested starting bid" I suppose. Maybe I'll bid on it first, and just give it to my niece.

Also, CJ just told me that he just remembered learning a dance to "Pata Pata" at camp when he was a kid, too! This was in Southern California. Where did the dance come from? It is a mystery!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I am pretty bummed out today. Last night I had bad cramps that didn't go away even after 2 ibuprofen and a heating pad against my belly. And it's nowhere near my period, so basically the endo is back. I'm getting an ultrasound this Friday morning to find out if there's a "mass" as the doctor said. I'm going to see the doc who did my surgery, even though she has a terrible bedside manner, like really horrible, but she has seen and moved around my insides with her own eyes (well, using a tiny camera) so I can't give that up. I feel almost post-traumatic stress-ful about that surgery I had in March, and now I feel just as bad as I did before I had it. So, I am pretty bummed, as I said. The doctor (not my usual one) I talked to today brought up trying Lupron, which is by far the scariest sounding, worst reviewed drug I've ever seen. It basically puts your body through menopause, which has the side effect of starving the endo of the hormones that make it react. People on Lupron get hot flashes and night sweats, they get migraines, nausea, weight gain, facial hair, vaginal dryness, loss of memory... It makes me think maybe I can handle the pain and nausea and bloating I'm dealing with now.

Sorry to be all sad and shit. On a lighter note, Bare-Naked Granola is really, really delicious. It is almost worth the $5 a bag they sell it for.

Monday, November 10, 2008

I woke up to a familiar song playing on NPR. Miriam Makeba, the singer of Pata Pata had died. I posted this comment on the appropriate post on Metafilter:

Powell House, the Quaker retreat center whose weekend youth programs generally kept me from going crazy as a teenager, has a very close relationship with Pata Pata. During my teen years in the late 80s, a 45 of Pata Pata hung on a nail next to the record player. It was played every Friday night, and there was a dance similar to the electric slide (but with more funky chicken) that everyone would do, the older kids teaching the younger ones. After being played (and dancing to it) at regular speed, we'd do it again all fast and crazy at 78, and if we were really feeling it that night, we'd play it slowly at 33 which allowed us time to add extra flourishes to the dance moves. The Pata Pata dance was created before I got there and I assume it still lives on today. Hearing it still makes me want to jump up out of my chair and dance goofily around the room.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

As part of my duties as chairwoman of that association I got railroaded into leading, I must take care of (or oversee the taking care of) a large pavilion on the grounds of my neighborhood. Attached to the outside of this building is a very large wooden cross. This cross is illuminated by a spotlight every night. Today I went inside of the little room that forms the back stage of the building and I found the very old-fashioned timer that turns the cross light on and off. It was still on summer-time, so I unscrewed the little tabs and tightened them at the correct hours. But now it is night, and the cross is not on. Clearly I did something wrong.

It is possible I will be relieved of my chairwomanly duties without having to actually try to sabotage myself. How about that.

Actually, I know most of the people whose homes get a nice view of the glowing cross, and I don't think any of them would mind if it was never lit again, or (even) if the cross was removed altogether. I would definitely get in trouble for allowing such a thing as chairwoman, though. There are still many older people who remember my neighborhood as the Christian camp it used to be, where all of their Christian friends lived and hung out together all summer long. Taking this big symbol of the past out of this place, that's already been repopulated with Jews and gay people and atheists, would break their hearts. And I just can't do it.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Right now CJ is sitting behind me, playing our video game in which we kill orcs and goblins and shit. I can't play, of course, because my arm is still feeling bad, so it's kind of like being grounded the night of a big party. Except sneaking out and going to play with him would only make my arm hurt a lot, so. I recently won a free raffle at work for a Halo board game -- that's right, a cardboard and plastic-playing-pieces version of the super best-selling video game. I was just looking through it before I started writing this, and I think playing it will just make me feel sad. Maybe not, but I wouldn't know, since CJ won't stop playing his video game in order to try it out with me. (I am writing this in order for him to feel guilty later. Don't tell him!)

Today I went to the bead store to get more wire. While I was there a flock of ladies came in and loudly oohed and aahed at everything they saw. It reminded me of the time a couple of weeks ago when two middle-aged couples came in to Faces and tried on wigs, which made them laugh so loudly and so crazily that I thought there was a danger they might wet themselves. I like a wig as much as the next person, but they don't get more than a chuckle out of me. These people were laughing as though seeing their husband wearing a fake afro was the most clever and hilarious thing ever. Maybe my comedic standards are too high?

Friday, November 07, 2008

I have some good excuses for not posting today, but I won't bore you with them. (Nothing bad, just busy away-from-computer times.) I should start writing some posts in advance so I can just drop 'em in at times like these. Ah well. Enjoy your Friday rocking!

Thursday, November 06, 2008

I'm squeaking in right under the wire here. I just got back from work-->dinner-->trivia, so I haven't had time to blog. But here I am! We didn't win or even come close to winning at trivia tonight, but I did remember what animal is on a caduceus, plus I identified a nautilus from a photo of one. Also, that the much-parodied "You're the Best Around!" training-montage song was originally in Karate Kid. So it was a personal victory, for me.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

So, yeah. Whew! Our guy won. I'm pretty freaking happy about it. Last night I ended up at an election results watching party at a local bar, which was the official spot for the area's Obama campaign headquarters. I had been thinking of just staying home, but my neighbor Kandy talked me in to going out with her, and I dragged CJ along with me. When we showed up at around 8:30, it was so packed that there was a line to get in. Eventually we made our way to the bar, and some pints of Hop Obama beer, and we even scored a barstool to take turns sitting in. The bar erupted in cheers and applause every time they called a state for Obama. During one of those times, this photo was taken for the local paper:

Kandy's the grey-haired bespectacled woman two people to the left of me. Just in case you can't see me well enough, here's a close-up of my lovely mug, very unflatteringly captured in mid-"wow!" (or maybe "awesome!" or "woo!"):

And the best of all is CJ's, which I'm trying to find a funny way to describe, but I'll let the picture do the talking:

It was wicked fun to be with such a jubilant crowd. We were chatting with everyone that happened to be nearby, like the older dude next to me who went to Kansas State, and the baby-faced grad student from France (studying political science, of course). I ran into a bunch of people I knew, like Kshama (sitting next to me in the pic, and I'm sure I'm spelling her name wrong), the WRSI folks (Jaz, Bill, and Scott), and Philip and Flora. We stayed until after Obama's speech, and as we walked through town to our car people were skipping around, yelling and hooting, people in cars were honking their horns, and a church was ringing its bells. Today I've come back down to Earth somewhat -- I'm really saddened by prop 8 passing in California -- but I am still feeling really optimistic and excited to see what the next four years will bring. Yes!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

It is not yet On the Other Side, but I did find a photo of me as the lady who can't wait for Christmas:

Courtesy of Henning at the good ol' Rockumentary. It is both good and bad that you can't really get the full effect of the pants.

I'm about to go to a bar/restaurant place that's hosting a results viewing party for the local Obama campaign chapter thing, though I did not volunteer with them at all. I am going with my friend and neighbor who DID volunteer, so maybe that's enough? I did vote...

Monday, November 03, 2008

Tomorrow! Tomorrow is Election Day! When I will be drinking and crying no matter what the results are, though for different reasons! I can't wait until this long national nightmare is over. I can't wait to return to my little bubble, where I don't have to listen to the kinds of people who ignore mountains of actual evidence in order to believe incredible, outrageous stories that fortify their own prejudices and beliefs. You know, the kinds of people who love Sarah Palin. I can go back to pretending that, while there might be people like that out there, there are only a few, and those few are considered harmless crackpots in their communities. After tomorrow I won't have to hear assholes on the radio calling me unamerican because I believe in national health care and taxing the wealthy. (Sure, people will still be saying that, but it will be in easily-avoided pockets of the internet.

And for the first election of my lifetime, I want one particular candidate to win SO BAD. I've always wanted my guy to win, sure, but this time I actually really, really want my guy to win. As in, I'm excited to see where he'll take the country. I don't even want to talk about it because last time (2004) was such a disillusioning heartbreak, and back then I didn't care even half as much as I do now. I can't wait to vote. I wish it were tomorrow night already. Please vote tomorrow; our state is a lock for Obama, but the ballot questions are still a toss up. (Just follow my handy guide: 1. No, 2. Yes, 3. Yes. You're welcome.)

Sunday, November 02, 2008

So, yes. We're planning a trip to Belize. Why Belize? We were trying to think of an interesting and warm place to go this winter (since Hawaii rocked so hard last year), and I found a website of unusual hotels. I was hoping I'd find some awesome treehouse inn or something, and I came across the Parrot Nest Lodge. It was cheap, and in the jungle, so I looked up "Belize" online and saw that the country has cool, huge Mayan temples in the jungle and nice snorkel action on the shore. Many, many hours of research later, we've kind of decided to stay at a slightly better hotel. But there will definitely be a jungle portion of the trip, then a beach portion. I have never been somewhere so uncivilized, and I can't wait for the excitement, the iguanas and river otters and howler monkeys and manta rays, but I am also petrified of picking up some debilitating parasite that will make me go blind or just ruin my health for the rest of my life. In preparation, I have done something I never thought I'd do: I purchased convertable pants. (I'm so ashamed.) Hopefully, they will keep the scorpions from biting me on the shins, and the zwip-zwop sound the nylon fabric makes as I walk will scare away the jaguars. I also bought a crazy shirt that has both sunblocking properties and confusingly-located security pockets directly over the boobs. In short, I will look kind of dweeby.

I realize that I spent a lot of the last post talking about bad-looking pants and other clothing, and I promise that I will be branching out on my post topics in the future.

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Hey, it's November! Perhaps I'll try to do the ol' NaBloPoMo or whatever it is. Post a day for the month of November. And they have to be real posts, not Twitter-ish short ones. Let's just see how it goes.

Halloween is over, and I'm going through post-holiday syndrome, where I can't stop looking for things I could use for it even though the holiday is done and my costume is half-disassembled. This year I was A Middle-Aged Woman Who Cannot Wait For Christmas. I had found an excellently tacky Christmas sweater and extremely cringe-worthy Mom jeans at the Salvation Army -- seriously, two different people said, "please never wear those pants again" -- and I borrowed a Santa hat from the prop closet at work. I also had a small strand of battery-operated mini-lights, so I turned those into a necklace. I baked Christmas cookies too, for a prop. It went over well at the show I went to, and I won a set of four classic mini game pens. I only hope my cookies weren't what pushed that drunk girl over the edge and into Barftown, USA.

The day before was Halloween at work, where all of the parents in the office are invited to bring their kids in to do some cubicle-to-cubicle trick or treating. Workers choose whether or not to participate, and if they do, they get a sign and a basket of candy. Since I work with a bunch of bookish nerds, a lot of them dress up for the day -- usually not in full costume, but they'll put on a crazy hat or a wig. I still have my bird costume from 2 years ago, which is essentially just a hoodie with felt fabric-glued onto it, so I decided to wear that. And I wanted to do something to my cubicle, too. I considered finding four big branches and duct-taping them to the corners so I could have a little mini-forest, but that seemed too hard. There happened to be a never-used, still-flat cardboard box nearby my cube, so I stayed late Weds. night and made it into this:

It's a birdhouse! A birdhouse with the added bonus of acting as a door to my cubicle! I got a lot of envious comments from my coworkers, lemme tell ya. It slides to the side to open it, but whenever a person came to my desk to talk to me, they'd just lean over and talk through the hole. In the photo I'm kneeling, which I did throughout the trick or treat thing, and I actually have bruises on my knees now. Corporate-strength berber carpeting is no joke.

In other news, we bought tickets to go to Belize in early February. "Fuck the economy," we said, knowing deep in our hearts that my magazine will probably fold before then. (Luckily, there are always going to be crazy people for CJ work with.) More about that later.